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证词 (zhèng cí) — testimony (in a legal context); evidence (as a statement of facts)

Definition

noun
testimony (in a legal context)evidence (as a statement of facts)
Measure word · 份

Examples

  • ，证词。
    Fǎ tíng shàng, zhèng rén tí gōng le zhòng yào de zhèng cí.
    In court, the witness provided important testimony.
  • 证词。
    Zhè fèn zhèng cí shì tā dāng shí xiě de.
    This piece of testimony was written by him at that time.
  • 证词。
    Lǜ shī zǐ xì jiǎn chá le suǒ yǒu zhèng cí.
    The lawyer carefully examined all the evidence.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

证zhèngproof
词cíword

证 gives 'proof', and 词 gives 'word', making a statement used as evidence.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 證; 证 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
登
登dēng證zhèng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 證 pairs 言, a words/speech part, with 登 as a sound clue; the simplified 证 is a later shorthand.

Open 证 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →
Appears in
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